Brian_wilson_spandexPhoto source: Getty

Last night, Showtime premiered their new baseball documentary, "The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants." Since, let's face it, most of us are only concerned with the inner workings and outer dramas of our own hometown boys, here are a few quick re-cap notes for the remotely interested:

  1. Cody Ross struggles to get back in 2010 post-season form, which lends itself to the recurring question of whether or not he was shooting up steroids in the playoffs last year.
  2. It takes manager Bruce Bochy approximately 4 glasses of red wine to even sound remotely like Charlie Manuel.
  3. Barry Zito, the highest paid player in the franchise, is arguably the most depressing person on the planet. On the DL for a long stretch of time, he does yoga and talks about spirituality but still implies that his replacement, Ryan Vogelsong, is capitalizing on his being injured.
  4. Ryan Vogelsong actually played in Triple A with the Phillies organization. See how we just breed winners?
  5. Pat Burrell edges his way into several screen shots and shuts the cameraman out of indoor batting cages. He is presumably upset that his after-hour shenanigans weren't considered television gold.
  6. Buster Posey's gnarly collision at home plate is revisited.
  7. Pablo Sandoval, also known as Kung Fu Panda, lost 38 lbs in the off-season by running up hills.
  8. Reliever Jeremy Affeldt talks about fan violence and vists Bryan Stow, the guy who was beaten close to death at Dodger Stadium. That was actually touching.
  9. Brian Wilson's beard asserts that the only reason he heard the breaking news of Osama Bin Laden's death was because he was watching CSI Miami and "figured out the ending," so he flipped to the news. And yes, Brian Wilson's beard is its own personality.

On the next episode (10 P.M. Wednesdays) Showtime forecasted the All-Star Game shenanigans, which may be a bit more entertaining. If the show proves strong enough in the ratings, producers intend to move on to the next team. Perhaps this is biased, but the Phillies have just as much, if not more, to offer in the way of televised entertainment. And Chooch.

In other national-ish news, Brian Wilson wore that (above) to last night's ESPYs. The Eagles took home the award for Best Game. DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant were on hand to accept the award. Todd Herremans wanted us to credit Matt Dodge, as well. Heh.

Screen shot 2011-07-14 at 8.31.51 AM

Roy Halladay won both Best MLB Player and Best Moment for his postseason no-hitter.